The McCabe Family Great Smoky Mountains Road Trip 2014

At the International Civil Rights Center & Museum, we learned about the formerly segregated train station in Greensboro which was owned and operated by the Southern Railway and was built in 1927.  Its original design planned for separate facilities for whites and "colored" persons.  The station is of course no longer segregated and now serves as the Amtrak station in Greensboro.  After our visit to the museum, I drove over the station to check it out.  No one got out of the car except me. Oh well, their loss. Layout of the station. Note the design elements which incorporated segregation of whites and "colored" persons. Present day station. Former entrance for "colored" persons. Mural of the Southern Railway System. Old train announcement board.

After eating a hearty breakfast in Asheville at - you guessed it - Tupelo Honey Cafe (for the second time - such a great place we couldn't resist), we got on I-40 for the three hour drive to Greensboro, North Carolina, to visit the International Civil Rights Center & Museum. The museum is located in the former F.W. Woolworth store in downtown Greensboro, which was the birthplace of the sit-in movement at lunch counters across the south, a pivotal moment in the struggle for civil rights in America. The original sit-in occurred on February 1, 1960, when four college students from the Agricultural and Technical College of North Carolina sat down at the store's "whites only" lunch counter.  The musuem still houses the original lunch counter and stools (photos below). The prices listed at the counter were 15 cents for cherry pie and 65 cents for a turkey dinner.  A bottle of Pepsi-Cola was 5 cents. The museum's exhibits were very moving, and the museum is a...

From Asheville, we'll make our way to Greensboro, North Carolina, to visit The International Civil Rights Center & Museum.  After that, we may try to visit High Point.

After checking into our hotel and resting a bit, we traveled to Tupelo Honey Cafe , an awesome restaurant based in Asheville, with companion spots located throughout North Carolina.  The owner-chef is a forerunner in the farm-to-fork movement.  All meals are scratch-made.  Our spot was located just south of our hotel. My dinner - Brian's shrimp & grits - was spectacular and my dessert - a banana pudding topped with whipped cream - was out of this world.  Finished 'em both.  Highly recommended to all who visit Asheville.

The Biltmore Estate must be seen to be believed.  Built by George Vanderbilt, the grandson of railroad magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, and opened in 1895, the Biltmore is a magnificent French Renaissance chateau of unparalleled beauty and grandeur.  It has 250 rooms, including 43 bathrooms, and is surrounded by 8,000 acres of land.  On the list of 1,000 places to see before you die.  Enough said. The conservatory where they grew some flowers. 

We left Sylva about 10:00 am and hopped onto the Blue Ridge Parkway for a leisurely, two hour drive to Asheville, North Carolina, and the Biltmore Estate.  It took us a little while longer to make it to Biltmore, but the journey was well worth it.  The speed limit was 35 mph or 45 mph, there was little traffic, and there were lots of chances to pull over to enjoy scenic overlooks.  We even passed the highest point on the Parkway, an elevation of 6,053 ft.   The Parkway's construction started during the Great Depression with work by private contractors, state and federal highway departments, Italian and Spanish immigrant stonemasons, and thousands of Civilian Conservation Corps enrollees.  Dedication of the completed Parkway took place in 1987.  The Parkway meanders for 469 miles, from Virginia to North Carolina; it begins in Virginia, where Shenandoah National Park and the Skyline Drive ends, and finishes in North Carolina, at the Great Smoky Mountain...

Before heading to the Biltmore Estate, we stopped in Sylva, found a charming bistro, and ordered up some coffee for Suzanne and a warm cinnamon bun for Clare and Conor.  Here's their too cool Dylanesque tag line.

Tomorrow, Wednesday, August 6, we head to the Biltmore Estate, via the Blue Ridge Parkway .  It will add a bit of time to the trip, but will be well worth it in my opinion.

After dinner, we drove through the pretty little town of Sylva, North Carolina.  Sylva is the county seat of Jackson County.  Its Main Street is littered with small shops, cafes, bookstores, and general stores.  The historic courthouse is the county's most photographed building, was constructed on a hill overlooking Sylva's Main Street in 1914 by an early industrialist, and is now part of the county's library system. We parked the car and strolled the Main Street before heading back to our hotel.